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Feed market update - 5 August 2015

Read our latest summary of developments on global markets for cereals and oilseeds.

Grain futures prices continued to descend during last week, with global bearishness offsetting European weather concerns. Nov-15 UK feed wheat futures closed at £118/t on Tuesday, down £4 compared with the previous week. In its July monthly forecast, the International Grains Council painted a heavy balance for world feed grains, increasing the outlook for maize production by just over 3Mt, to 966Mt – driven by rises in Chinese output. The wheat forecast was cut by 1Mt but stocks were revised higher due to lower consumption expectations. FranceAgriMer reported on Friday that 59% of the maize crop was rated good/very good as at 27 July. This compares with 62% the previous week and is a deterioration of 22 percentage points in the last four weeks.

Oilseed prices also followed a bearish trend through last week; Chicago soyabean futures for Nov-15 closed at $346.18/t on Tuesday, down marginally since the previous Tuesday’s close. On Friday, UK soyameal (Hi Pro, ex-Store, East coast) was £277/t. Last Thursday’s US soyabean export sales data provided a brief price boost but on Friday the USDA reported the cancellation of 200Kt of US soyabeans to China. China has increasingly bought more soyabeans from South America recently due to cheaper prices, which may threaten the US’s market share. The European rapeseed harvest has been progressing well, with the French harvest nearing completion. However, the EU Commission and Strategie Grains have cut their monthly forecasts for EU rapeseed output further.

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